Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Only let your manner of life
be worthy of 
       the gospel of Christ...

                      Philippians 1. 27

(In every situation,
           even in this,
that's what the gospel
   looks like,
woven seamlessly
  in all you do and say today.)

                     

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

... you shall be called
      repairer of the breach...

                   Isaiah 58. 12

(Approach the impossible
with God's healing 
in my hands and heart.
Use this predicament
for Your glory,
                 O LORD.)
... you shall be called
      repairer of the breach...

                   Isaiah 58. 12

(Approach the impossible
with God's healing 
in my hands and heart.
Use this predicament
for Your glory,
                 O LORD.)

Monday, September 28, 2015

For My thoughts
      are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways
      My ways,
             says the LORD.
For as the heavens
    are higher than the earth,
so are My ways
          higher than your ways.

                 Isaiah 55. 8-9

(O LORD,
   place Your thoughts 
          on my radar
and how to take
    Your high road in this.)

Sunday, September 27, 2015

...and will make her wilderness
           like Eden,
her desert like 
   the garden of the LORD;
joy and gladness
   will be found in her,
thanksgiving 
           and the voice of song.

                      Isaiah 51.3

(Not a wasteland after all.
Look for the joy there,
look for the LORD in it.)

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Can a woman forget
  her nursing child,
that she should have
  no compassion 
  on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
Behold,
I have graven you
on the palms of My hands.

               Isaiah 49. 15-16

(God does not just
   know your name,
but you are loved
more than you can know.
Jesus bears the marks
    of His love for you.)

Friday, September 25, 2015

...to lead a life
worthy of the calling
to which you have been called.

                 Ephesians 4. 1

(God will show me
a different way in this day,
that which is unexpected
and gracious
and fully pleasing to Him.
Yes, even in this.
His ways transcend 
      every circumstance.)

                    

Thursday, September 24, 2015

...even among the rebellious
that the LORD God may dwell there.

                                Psalm 68. 18

(Why am I here?
To be faithful.
To bring the name of Jesus there.
Even here,
             even in this.)

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

And I will lead the blind
   in a way that they know not,
in paths that they have not known
                      I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness
     before them into light,
the rough places into level ground.

                             Isaiah 42. 16

(Show me a different way
      in this impossible situation, O LORD.
Grant me a different heart
        in this difficult relationship.
Bring Your glory into it.)

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Fear not,
for I am with you,
be not dismayed,
     for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
I will help you,
I will uphold you
   with My victorious right hand.

                Isaiah 41. 10

(In whatever I am going through.
How do I face it differently
because I am not alone in this?
Not just a sense of His Presence
     but the reality of it.)

Monday, September 21, 2015

Hezekiah received the letter
from the hand of the messengers,
and read it;
and Hezekiah went up
             to the house of the LORD,
and spread it before the LORD.
And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD...

                      Isaiah 37. 14-15

(First response,
             not last resort.
What do I need to spread before the LORD
                             today?
That would be everything,
nothing too big,
nothing too small.)

Sunday, September 20, 2015

On what do you rest
       this confidence of yours?
...On whom do you now rely...?
"We rely on the LORD our God."

                       Isaiah 36. 4, 5, 7

(Show me, O LORD,
how to rely on You
              in this situation
and to know Your faithfulness
      in incredible ways.)

Saturday, September 19, 2015

You keep him in perfect peace
 whose mind is stayed on You,
because he trusts in You.
Trust in the Lord for ever,
for the LORD GOD
    is an everlasting rock.

                  Isaiah 26. 3-4

(No matter what is
swirling around you,
God has you
in the palm of His hand.)

Friday, September 18, 2015

...the work of My hands
                 in his midst....

                  Isaiah 28. 26

(Stand in awe of what 
            God is doing right here,
             right now.
Let us not just do 
        the work of Your hands,
let us be
        the work of Your hands.)

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Come, my people,
enter your chambers,
and shut your doors behind you;
hide yourselves for a little while
               until the wrath is past.

                         Isaiah 26. 20

(Sometimes the wisest thing to do
            is to lay low.)


Wednesday, September 16, 2015

I am crucified with Christ;
it is no longer I who live,
       but Christ who lives in me;
and the life I now live in the flesh
   I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave Himself for me.

                              Galatians 2. 20

(How do I handle this situation?
It is no longer I who live,
             but Christ who lives in me.
I approach everything
with different eyes 
                and a different heart.)

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

...a blessing in the midst of the earth...

                            Isaiah 19. 24

(How to approach 
         an impossible situation
         or relationship.
Be the blessing in it.)

Monday, September 14, 2015

Apply your mind to instruction
and your ear to words of knowledge.

                     Proverbs 23. 12

(God's Word is not about information,
                    but transformation.
It's not just about knowing more,
           but being changed by it.)

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Behold, God is my salvation;
   I will trust and not be afraid;
for the LORD GOD 
   is my strength and my song,
and He has become my salvation.

                              Isaiah 12. 2

(I will trust
        and not be afraid.
God gives me a new song to sing.
    And that would be about Him.)

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Righteousness shall be
         the girdle of his waist,
and faithfulness 
         the girdle of his loins.

                          Isaiah 11. 5

(That which we should wear,
 that by how we should act,
 that by which we should be known.
What does that look like
                        in this situation,
                        in this relationship,
                        in this interaction today?
Above all, 
           to honor Him.)

Friday, September 11, 2015

...for when I am weak,
       then I am strong.

              2 Corinthians 12. 10

(I can't do this.
"Exactly."
That is when God shines through.
He will sustain you
   with strength that is not your own.)

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Behold, God is my helper;
the LORD is the upholder of my life.

                          Psalm 54. 4

(That reality changes everything.
God is here to help me.
I am not alone.
He changes how I approach things.
He changes the outcome.)

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

But I am like a green olive tree
                  in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
       for ever and ever.

                           Psalm 52. 8

(Even in drought,
even in impossible places,
         evergreen and bearing fruit.)

Monday, September 7, 2015

And God is able to provide you 
with every blessing in abundance,
so that you may
       always have enough of everything
and may provide in abundance
                      for every good work.
 
                      2 Corinthians 9. 8

(God does not just make it enough.
      He makes it more than enough.
For His purposes,
for His good work,
for His glory.)

Sunday, September 6, 2015

...and call upon Me
            in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you,
and you shall glorify Me.

                    Psalm 50. 15

(It is not just that we should escape
             a hard situation
                               or the miry bog,
but that God would redeem it
        for His glory.
Seek God in this.
See God in this.
He always has a deeper purpose
   than what we can comprehend.)

Saturday, September 5, 2015

In the morning sow your seed,
and at evening withhold not your hand,
for you do not know
which will prosper,
          this or that,
or whether both alike will be good.

                   Ecclesiastes 11. 6

(There is nothing ordinary in God's eyes,
          nothing that He cannot use
          in extraordinary ways.
You may never know
   how God is working mightily
                       through you.
Just know that He is.)

Friday, September 4, 2015

Walk about Zion,
go round about her,
   number her towers,
   consider her ramparts,
   go through her citadels,
that you may tell the next generation
              that this is God,
                  our God for ever and ever.
He will be our guide for ever.

                           Psalm 48. 12-13

(Know everything you can about God.
Seek Him, 
          listen to Him,
               apply God's Word to your heart.
It is not about information,
       but transformation.
God will change the course of your life.)

Thursday, September 3, 2015

For even when ...

            2 Corinthians 7. 5

(God is working mightily,
   His purposes prevail.)

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear
though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake
          in the heart of the sea.

                              Psalm 46. 1-2

(Thou shalt not panic.
God is here with me.
God has been with me all along.)

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

I know that You can do all things,
and that no purpose of Yours
                    can be thwarted.

                       Job 42. 2

(God has His eye on you,
His purposes deeper
           than you can know.)